Improvement in fastenings for skates



ffUNITED STATES JAMES L. PLI'MPTON,

PATENT OFFICE.

or NEw'YoEK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FAsrl-:Nmcs Fon sKATEs. i

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 34,590, dated March 4, 1862. f

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, ZT AMES L. PLIMPTON, of No. 145 Tenth street, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Skate-Fastening; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description of the same, reference beingv had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a skate put on the foot with my improved fastening. Fig. 2 is a plan of a skate, showing a portion of the fastening. Fig. 3 is a modification of a portion of the fastening.

Similar letters of reference indicate correyspending parts in the several figures.

v which is attached to the foot or sole plate of the skate, and the other is made to fasten at the back of the heel at or near where the heel is joined to the upper-leather, in combination with a suitable stop placed upon the upper face of the sole-plate of the skate, so as to form a claspfor clamping the heel of the boot or shoe in a diagonal direction in such a manner as to cause the sole-plate of the skate to be firmly pressed and held against the bottom of the boot or shoe heel, as hereinafter to be fully described.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, l will proceed to describe it.

A represents the wooden, or it may be metal, sole-plate of the skate, and B the runner of the same, which may be attached to the soleplate by screws and nuts, as in the accompanying illustration, or in any other suitable manner, and be of any devised shape or style.

C represents the usual toe-strap, made of stout leather and put through an oblong slot made transversely through the sole-plate near the front end of the same. This strap is to receive the toe of the boot or shoe, and is fur- :nished with the usual buckles and punctured lends to allow it to be contracted or expanded to accommodate a longer or smaller foot, as

may bedesired.

D is a connecting-linkpof metal or other suitable material, which maybe made in a variety of forms, the most convenient form,

however, being thatof a metal bow or bail,l ,which is fitted in\an openingl" made transversely through the sole-plate when the skate Y is fastened on the foot, or it may be secured to metal ears attached to the sides of thesoleplate in any suitable manner. Secured tothis connecting-link D by a looped 'strap c is av lever el and catch e. The said leveris attached at its lower end to the back sidefand near the lower end of the catch e by a knuckle or hinge joint a, and at its upper end terminates in a Y fixed tongue g, similar to that of'fa common,

buckle. The/strap c being Iirst'put around the connecting-link and doubled'up, its ends are put through the metal loop b" on the outside of the lever and fastened byfthe tongue g, entering one of the holes in each of the ends of the strap, they being togetherz- The catch is made of metal, and on its inner side near the bottom is furnished with twpv or more projecting lips i, which lit in the,U channel or groove formed around the heeLof the boot or shoe where the union of the heelwith the upper leather is made, the plate ofthe catch above the lips resting againstthe back part of the boot or shoe. The back side of this catchis provided with a knuckle f, which iits between the forked ends of the lever, and which forms the stationary portion of the hinge-joint of the lever.

E is a compensating stop attached to the upper face of the sole-plate of the skate to prevent the heel from being pressed forward when the connecting-link is fastened in place on the upper part of the back of the heel, and saidstop, in connection with the sole-plate of the skate, forming a jaw of a clamp, eni compassing the lower front corner of the heel. This stop maybe made of wood or other suitable material in oblong, rectangular, or other Vsuitable form, and is attached to the top of the sole-plate by a pivot-screw h, said screw being screwed into the sole-plate at or -near Where the front edge of the heel comes on the sole-plate. The hole Vin thesaid stop, through which the pivot-screw passes to secure it to the sole-plate, is made at one side of the center and nearer to one end than the other, so' that by turning the stop horizontally on itsY The'operation of fastening the skate on the foot is as follows: The toe of the foot is. inserted in the toe-strap of the skate,and it is adjusted so as to allow the toe of the boot to protrude through it flush with the end lof thesolefplate. The Vstrap is then adjusted -so as tohave one of its sides touch the innerv square face of the boot or shoeheel. The

connecting-link D is then turned up -soas` to allow the projecting lipsof the catch tor beinserted inthe channel around-the top -Y of the heel, when by-taking hold of the'lever and turningit up against v the `heel of thei foot` the projecting lips are firmly pressed downon `the vupper edge of theheel of they boot or shoe, and the `skate therebyfirmly: The Jjconnectingllink i when the lever is turned `up to fastenl thef skate on thefoot being above thehinge-joint ofthe'lever and between it andthe boot, the strain uponthe samekeeps itand the lever'` from-dropping downand-the yskate from becoming AVspontaneously loosened on the Ifootg By taking-up orlettingou-tthe loop-.by -Which theconnecting-linkisconnectedto the'leveragreater-or less leverage -may be obtainedf Fig. 3 represents a modification of `a portionof the fastening, vwhich consists -simply V of alever 7o with a hooked end Z instead of the; lever and-'catch beforedescribed, thelfastenf ingin other respects being precisely the same. 3

Bythe within-described fastening a skater can-be 'put on the foot in less than one minute fastened on the foot.

or taken 0E as quickly.

Theifastening is cheap, and, being mostly of metal, is very4 durable.

I do not Wish .to be understood as confining myself .tothe precise combinationof Vparts herein described for fastening the skate to 4the heel of a boot or shoe, as many variations may be made therein without departing from the main features of my invention-as, for instance, the connecting-link D may be used with `an adjustable lever and a permanent stop, or it may beusedwith a simple lever and an adjustable stop, or by making the conmeeting-link adjustable so as to expand and contract, or byapplying it tothe sole-plate of the skate so as to slip backward and forward, it may be used with a permanent stop and asi1nple lever or Without any lever at all, `byproviding the connecting-link with a Suitable projection to catch intothe b'ackpa'rtof the heel. In allof the combinations the connecting-link is employed in forming ia 'clasp for clamping thehecll ofthe boot or 'shoe' in .a diagonal directiornand either of the modifica-y Vtionsnarne'd is sufIi'cient-to fasten jal'skate firmly tojone particular -sized 'heehbut a fixed connection-link with an adj u stablestop `to -compensate for the different lengths 'Sc'f heels,and an adjustablelcver oranalogous device to compensate for'the different heights of the heelyasfherein dcscribed,-willallow the same skate to be readily adjusted, soasfto fasten firmly to a variety` of heels. i

Hav-ing thus described my inventicn,`what I claimfas new, and desire to secure by LettersfPatent, isj l. The combination of theconnecting-link D and -soleplate A with an adjustablel orpermanentstop, substantially as described.

`2. The eonnecting-linkD,leverand catch,Y `or equivalent device, in combination with the stop E and-sole-pla-te A vwhen combined'an'd arranged to operate substantially as nde- 

